The Paleo Manifesto: Ancient Wisdom for Lifelong Health

Durant, founder of Paleo NYC and Barefoot Runners NYC, became interested in evolutionary psychology as an undergrad at Harvard. As an adult, after suffering weight gain and energy swings at his desk job, he took up economist Art De Vany’s premise that “there is a mismatch between our genes and the lives we live today” and used that idea to explore what it would mean to live “like a caveman,” changing his diet, sleep patterns, and sunlight exposure. He lost weight and experienced more consistent energy, and his immune system and complexion improved. “It felt like waking up from a perpetual state of hangover,” he writes. This entertaining, mildly scholarly book, by turns anthropological, historical, prescriptive, and speculative, describes his academic and personal research into all things paleo. Although occasionally marred by questionable and contradictory claims and conclusions (such as the necessity of industrial agriculture), the book provides novices with a broad introduction to paleo theory and practice, from speculations about how Biblical hygiene laws kept Jews healthy to instructions on how to stand all day and run barefoot, to the saga of Durant’s own “exhilaration, pride, respect, gratitude” in hunting, killing, and dressing his first deer. (Sept.)